What is interesting is these situations is not just how the company involved responds, but also how their competitors respond.

The Gloves Are Off…

I actually enjoy it when rival brands go at each other - it's fun to see. (My current favorite is Verizon versus Sprint.) So when Uber shot itself in the foot (repeatedly) I was keen to see how its main US competitor, Lyft, would respond. Special incentives for disaffected Uber riders? Sly digs in their advertising or social media content? No. Lyft remained above it all, just quietly going about their business.

I have no doubt that the people at Lyft made the calculation that there was nowhere else for the #deleteUber crowd to go, and all they had to do was sit back and take the extra business. (I’m also pretty sure they went on a frantic driver recruitment drive.) But a conversation undoubtedly also took place about the Lyft brand. Its value proposition. Its tone of voice. Lyft’s brand proposition is ‘your friend with a car’ (versus Uber’s ‘Everyone’s private driver’). And this idea of Lyft as your friend, as the nice guys, flows right through the user experience, even down to the drivers they recruit. So I guess it’s not surprising that they stayed out of the Uber implosion. That’s just who they are. And in that case, a non-response is more appropriate – and powerful – than any proactive response.